It only seems like yesterday that I pursued the spark of an idea following a chance conversation at a one-year-old’s birthday party, and that led to forming Green Energy UK.
That was 20 years ago and to mix my metaphors, ‘a lot of frying pans have gone under the bridge since then’.
It has been an interesting, exciting, and enjoyable time but not without its dramas, near misses, not to mention much sucking of teeth.
We have survived 3 significant crises during that time, the Russians threating to cut off the gas supply to Europe in 2005, the global financial crisis in 2008, the Beast from the East in 2018, and today we continue to endure the Covid-19 pandemic, the eventual outcome and effects of the which are still unknown.
We had planned to ‘celebrate’ 20 years in business this year, which is no mean feat in a hyper-competitive and heavily regulated market which has seen many businesses come and go over the period, but with the country in the middle of Lockdown 3.0, the National Health Service at near breaking point and our freedoms and liberty severely restricted, the idea of a convivial party seems both inappropriate and insensitive, not to mention extremely unlikely.
But we could not let this milestone go unmarked, so we sat down late last year and thought about a more considerate and constructive way to mark this anniversary.
So, we’ve decided to mark each month of 2021 with an acknowledgement and action on a significant environmental issue we all face, and more importantly, that we as individuals and communities can do something about.
In January we are concentrating on water – that most precious of life-giving compounds, the universal solvent we all too often take for granted.
It is precious and should be savoured, protected, and used sparingly in some applications in order that it can retain its life-giving properties elsewhere in our eco system!
As we move through the year, we are highlighting plastics, another compound that has changed our lives dramatically, for the better in some instances, but with devastating effects elsewhere. We are running Plastic Free February; and ending in December on Creative Recycling, Nature, Wildlife, Exercise and more will be highlighted as we move through the year.
We plan to involve both our staff and our customers in the campaigns to heighten awareness of the small steps we can all individually take to make a big difference.
You can find out more about our #LearnOneThing Promise here >
As we climb out of the lockdown and the effects of the pandemic subside, we hope that the world we emerge into will be a better one, where some of the less obvious lessons we have learned though COVID create a greater appreciation of the world in which we live, the nature that surrounds us and the things we can do to prevent its destruction and enhance its preservation for future generations.
Throughout 2021, look out for the relevant materials we’ll be putting out on our social media feeds and see if there are things you can do to make the new normal a better normal.
Here’s to a better 2021 and beyond.
Stay safe.
Doug Stewart, CEO
